At home, the couple keep it simple but never skimp. They cook uncomplicated food like the roast chicken recipe they share here and believe that every meal should end with dessert

ON THE WAY to their small, sunny kitchen in Santa Cruz, Calif., Pim Techamuanvivit and David Kinch each covered a lot of ground. A native of Bangkok, Ms. Techamuanvivit was working in Silicon Valley when she started the pioneering food blog chezpim.com, where she wrote about her visits to some of the world's best restaurants. This spring, in San Francisco, she opened her own restaurant, Kin Khao, whose mission, she has said, is to "liberate" Thai cuisine from "the tyranny of peanut sauce."

In Their Kitchen

Though the kitchen is small, ample counter space makes it possible for Mr. Kinch and Ms. Techamuanvivit to cook there together.

Sunlight streams into the kitchen thanks to large windows in the adjoining room. A counter dividing the two spaces seats four.

Mr. Kinch was 16 when he started cooking in his hometown of New Orleans, at the legendary Commander's Palace. After working in France, Spain, Germany and Japan, he opened Manresa in Los Gatos, Calif., in 2002. The restaurant, a contemporary take on California's farm-to-table cuisine, has since earned two Michelin stars. It was there that the couple met. "I like to say I went to Manresa and went home with the chef," Ms. Techamuanvivit said. "But that ignores the months in between!"

Today the two share a duplex apartment in downtown Santa Cruz. Recently they talked to us about strategic collecting, the beauty of Kewpie mayonnaise and their zombie apocalypse food.

The first thing people notice about our kitchen is:Pim: that it's small—maybe 8 by 6 feet. We cram a lot of stuff in there. I only collect what I'll use day to day, and what can go in the dishwasher. I collect Russel Wright pieces from the '50s—teacups, casseroles, small plates. They're beautiful and functional. And not super-expensive, so if I break a piece, I don't cry about it.

In my pantry we always have:David: olive oil. I don't like green, unripe, peppery oils. I prefer the more balanced Ligurian or Catalan styles. I like fresh-cultured butter from the markets here in town. Dried pasta for something quick. The refrigerator door is always stocked with Pim's jams, and pickles and sauerkraut from Cultured Pickles up in Berkeley—they're so natural and pure. Kewpie mayonnaise is absolutely delicious, an umami bomb. It's probably really bad for me, but I don't care. I'm a fan of it on tomato sandwiches.

Pim: Must-haves start with jasmine rice from Thailand. I try to buy the freshest available. I keep Sriracha on hand, and shrimp paste from Thailand, and Thai chili jam that I make myself. Tra Chang fish sauce is another must. It doesn't have a funk—it smells clean and salty and tastes good. We also have lots of honey; I buy it when I travel. Another thing we have all the time is what David calls my catfish cereal: crispy bits of roasted catfish and kaffir lime leaves that I cook with curry paste. It's a condiment that keeps forever. It will be my zombie apocalypse food.

David: It's got chilies, which give you the endorphin rush, and it's got that nice citrus kick from the kaffir lime leaves. It's pretty amazing. I like it on Thai omelets.

Pim: We both love Thai omelets. They're easy: You crack the eggs, splash them with a little fish sauce and whisk them with a fork—not enough to make a soufflé, just to fluff them up. Then you fry them in a wok with more oil than you think prudent. It's actually best to fry them in lard.

Our favorite tools are:David: my hands. Working with food is a sensory experience. It's also therapeutic.

Pim: I have a favorite small Japanese utility knife I think we bought at Tsukiji [fish market in Tokyo]. I find chef's knives too big and unwieldy. I have another Japanese knife that David's mom gave me, a vegetable knife that looks like a mini cleaver. It's sharp and the perfect size. Between those two and a Victorinox bird's-beak knife, that's pretty much all I use. I have a granite Thai mortar and pestle that I use for a lot of things, like curry pastes and relishes. But I use our Vitamix for big batches. If anyone tells you they make large batches of curry paste with a mortar and pestle, they're lying to you.

On weekends, we like to make:Pim: simple things. Monday and Tuesday are David's weekend off from Manresa, so Tuesdays are like our Sundays. That's our one chance each week to sit around the table with friends and have a good dinner and drink some nice wine. We might roast a chicken with some vegetables, make a salad and drink red Burgundy. And I might bake a tart or something. I love desserts, and I think every meal should end with one.

ENLARGE

A recipe for macarons on the kitchen chalkboard; a clay donabe pot
Alanna Hale for The Wall Street Journal (2)

David: At times we cook together, at times we take turns. Sometimes, we have our friends help. Mondays and Tuesdays allow me to spend time with Pim, to enjoy the benefits of living in Santa Cruz. A lot of our friends live within walking distance. It's quite nice.

Our pots and pans are:Pim: a mixed bag. A couple of Le Creuset pieces, some All-Clad, a wok I bought for $20 in Chinatown. I'm also fond of my donabe pot from Korin in New York. Sometimes David brings home abalone from Manresa, and I make abalone rice porridge in our donabe. That's one of our favorites.

An appliance we love is:David: our Hamilton Beach juicer. I usually make a mix of vegetables and fruits. There's always ginger and apple, and beets and carrots tend to be my favorites.

Pim: Our rice cooker is a Zojirushi, the one that says it uses fuzzy logic. I'm not entirely sure what that means. It takes twice the time as a Chinese rice cooker, but it cooks great rice. I have a 5-cup one at home and a giant one at the restaurant.

The best feature of our kitchen is:Pim: the light. The kitchen opens onto the dining room, where we have a lot of large windows. It makes it a nice place to play.

2. Meanwhile, warm a cast-iron pan (large enough for the chicken with a bit of room to spare) in preheated oven 15 minutes.

3. Once chicken has rested, massage it all over with 3 tablespoons butter. Salt chicken all over, outside and a little inside. Stuff chicken cavity with lemon, onion, garlic and herbs. Truss chicken or simply tie legs together.

4. Lay chicken on its side in a hot pan, return to oven and cook, basting occasionally, 30 minutes. Flip chicken so it rests on other side and cook, basting occasionally, 30 minutes more. Flip chicken so breast side is up and cook until juices run clear and chicken is cooked, 15-20 minutes more. Remove from oven and let chicken rest at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

5. Meanwhile, make a simple sauce from juices left in pan: Set pan over medium and add wine to deglaze. Let cook 2 minutes to burn off alcohol. Add remaining butter, shaking pan to emulsify. Add salt if needed. Strain sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a serving bowl. Serve sauce alongside chicken.

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